Barry Sheene

Barry Sheene, who has died of cancer aged 52, won the blue riband of motorcycle racing, the 500cc world championship, in 1976 and 1977, and the Formula 750 World Championship in 1973. He was not his generation's most successful racer, but he was its most famous by a huge margin.

Sheene's popularity transcended a sport whose mainstream media coverage in the 1970s was, at best, sporadic and shallow. He became a true household name and face. There was Sheene smoking through a hole drilled in the front of his helmet; Sheene grinning widely as a leggy model adoringly caressed his long hair; Sheene promoting Brut aftershave on television and Sheene the chat show host. Compared with the rest of the bike or car racing world "Bazza" was, in mass media terms, solid gold.

The camera was kind to him. He was articulate, witty, confident and made the maximum use of his cockney accent and working class origins.

Away from the track, television was his natural environment and it was a documentary that gave him worldwide celebrity status. A film crew was following him in 1975 when, on a qualifying lap for the world championship in Daytona in the United States, the rear tyre of his 750cc TR750 exploded. The camera followed his struggle to control the bike and the sickening crash which followed. The accident was so bad that it looked certain to be fatal.

Two days later he was filmed from his bedside, joking with fellow racer Gene Romero, and admiring the x-rays of the huge pin which kept his thigh together. It was archetypal Sheene. Six weeks later he was racing and winning again.

Although born into a motorcycle racing family Sheene's success did not come easily. He left school at 15 having not excelled academically. In his own words, "The only subject I was top in was absenteeism." Sheene was obsessed with racing and was prepared to do anything to fund his ambitions. Among many other things he was a van driver with a reputation for spectacularly fast deliveries, a car park attendant and labourer, often simultaneously.

Sheene's breakthrough came in 1970. Backed by his father Frank, he purchased a three-year-old 125cc ex-works Suzuki. It was the right bike at the right time.

He came second in his first world championship race. Two years later, when he was forced to compete in the Isle of Man 125cc TT, he crashed, having had a miserable time in the rain and fog.

He eventually went on to dominate 500cc racing throughout the world in the four cylinder Suzuki RG500. Although he won only two 500cc world championships, in 1976 and 1977, the whole of the 1970s will be eternally dominated by pictures of Sheene. He was, quite simply, glamour on or off two wheels. In 1978 he lost the 500cc championship to a new arrival from the US, Kenny Roberts on a Yamaha.

At the end of the 1979 season Sheene left Suzuki, which he felt was not providing him with the best equipment. Matters were not helped by the fact that Virginio Ferrari, who was supposed to be Sheene's back-up rider, beat him into second place.

At first, Sheene rode privately-owned Yamahas, but was then given works bikes in recognition of his outstanding talent. Then, at the 1982 British Grand Prix, Sheene came on an existing accident at 160 mph without, he claimed, adequate warning flags being shown. He crashed and again suffered massive injuries. He successfully sued the organisers but, although he raced again, he was unable to regain form.

He retired in 1984, and to ease the pain of arthritis caused by his many injuries, he emigrated to Australia. He bought his Australian property after a trip with ex-Beatle George Harrison who was a close friend. Harrison did not take to the idea of an Australian property, but Barry did and built houses for himself and his father. There he became a TV pundit and commercial property developer.

Sheene could be charming, warm and courteous, but he was a complex character. He knew his value as a crowd puller and was extremely demanding of the teams for whom he rode, and often dismissive of his team-mates: that is the nature of great sportsmen. A ruthless and highly successful businessman, he was the first racer to master the equally ruthless race promoters, so that instead of riders being an almost unwelcome addendum to the show, they were the show, expecting proper payment for their services.

But from Australia he still could not leave racing alone. In 2000 he rode a classic Manx Norton in prestige races all over the world winning with the same cheeky grin that melted the hearts of teenage girls in the 1970s. In 1978 he was made an MBE. He is survived by his wife Stephanie and their son and daughter.